| "A Faith Lift" | ||||
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By The REV.S.ATAN Of Bangor Fundamentalalist Church Of The Holy Truth. A wave of secularism and disbelief is sweeping our country in the form of spiritual deadness. Much as we love our fellow men and women, there are some that we simply cannot include. The solution to this sinfulness? We must resort to three things - Biblical truth, sensible and thoughtful worship, and joyful prayer. For instance, some heretics in the Established Church are claiming that such heathens as Charles Darwin may have been right, without realising that he was actually influenced by Beelzebub himself. For example, the Bible tells us that life began on Earth 10,000 years ago. But some upstart 'scientists' have found bones of animals proved to have lived 20,000 years ago. Well, we can put paid to this idea by revealing that God put those bones there in order to test our faith!
Sensible and thoughtful worship is the next area in which we must counter spiritual deadness. For instance, many people find it helpful to'close themselves off' and meditate, especially during Bible readings or sermons. This practise is known as 'sleeping on the Spirit' and is to be encouraged at all times. We also encourage hymns which give a thoughtful and poetic interpretation of the gospels, such as 'Jesus, Jesus, Alleluia, Jesus Jesus.' Here the wealth of the Christian tradition is presented in a lively and philosophical form! Congregation testimonies are also an important part of worship. Here are some examples Theocritus (not his real name), aged 50, was a hardened criminal who specialised in sacreige. After coming to our church he saw the light, and stayed with us for several months. Unexpectedly, the Lord called him away to a new job in the Isle of Wight. The following Sunday, we found all our church silver had disappeared. This was obviously the Lord symbolically removing it, in the same way that He removed Theocritus' sin. A further blessing came when the police informed us that our silver had been found in an Isle of Wight pawnshop. Does not the Lord work in mysterious ways! Similarly, Ogwen, 45, a long term member of our congregation visited a restaurant, Raj Tandoori (not its real name). Later that evening, everyone in the restaurant except Ogwen had succumbed to serious food poisoning! Ogwen, with all the certainty and conviction of the rare believer, dismissing claims that this was because she only had a green salad, whilst everyone else had Chicken Tikka. She is certain that the Lord spared her from adversity! The fact that a group of nuns, also in the restaurant, succumbed to food poisoning we can only explain as some Divine revelation that they were 'dead in spirit'. In our worship, we extend a warm welcome to all, as Christ did. However, we feel that all sinners, people of other churches and faiths cannot be countenanced unless converted to our way of thinking,due to the grave threat of spiritual contamination that they pose. Spiritual "special effects" as we call them are also an important part of reasoned and thoughtful worship. These include "speaking in tongues", "being slain in the spirit, "and "faith healing". For example, aclergyman friend of mine returned to his church after a pastoral visit to his local pub. On beginning his sermon, he was so full of the spirit that he began speaking in a language no-one could understand. Eventually he collapsed, "slain in the spirit,"and could not be revived for several hours afterwards. Allelulia!. "Faith Healing" is another important area. For example, a member of our congregation was suffering from a serios illness. After laying our hands upon him, and praying, he was Divinely inspired to visit his local G. P., who then prescribed medicines which healed him. Saved by the power of the Spirit! On another occasion, we became convinced that a member of our church was contaminated with a very serious and fatal disease, although he did not realise it. His doctor, blinded by the wiles of the Devil, failed to diagnose anything. After much prayer and laying on of hands, we pronounced our friend healed of his illness. How he leaped and danced, praising God for his deliverance! Similarly, a member of our church had had his leg improperly operated on during the Battle of Mons in 1914. He was left for many years with his left leg slightly shorter than his right. After years of prayer and healing ministry, our friend swears that the situation has been reversed, with his right leg now slightly shorter than his left. This shows that God not only heals, but also gives more! However, our friend is 97 years old and increasingly hazy in his judgement. I hope that I have shown a path of light in the spiritual darkness of our times. The activities I have described above are a definite antidote to the spiritual deadness of other churches, whose activities seem to concentrate on all the inessentials of the Christian faith, such as praying for others, visiting the sick, helping the needy, and welcoming the outcast sinner. Rev. S. A. |
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